This fun and patriotic Red White and Blue Cake is a great Memorial Day or 4th of July dessert. A beautiful bundt cake made with white cake mix, food coloring, and a simple homemade vanilla glaze topped with patriotic sprinkles.
This easy patriotic Memorial Day of 4th of July cake will impress your guests and family with its vibrant red, white and blue colors. This is a holiday barbecue dessert that has become one of my family's favorite, and I hope that it will become part of your summer parties, too.
Using a boxed cake mix makes it super simple, but your favorite homemade white cake mix will do just as good.
It's drizzled with a double coating of sweet vanilla glaze and topped with tons of colorful sprinkles.
Add food dye to the cake batter and you've got a beautifully colored 4th of July cake that looks professionally made.
This cake is made in only 5 steps and bakes in 35-45 minutes. For a no-fail recipe, make sure to follow the below tips and tricks for making a red, white, and blue cake in a bundt pan.
It's super easy, super fun, and super delicious!
Try These Fun Patriotic Desserts Next:
Ingredients
- Boxed white cake mix: or your favorite homemade cake mix + the ingredients on the box (usually egg and oil)
- Red and blue food coloring: liquid or gel are both fine
- Patriotic sprinkles: use a combination of red, blue and white jimmies and sugar crystals for the most appealing look
- Powdered sugar
- Milk: to make the glaze. Substitute with heavy cream for a richer and thicker glaze if desired
- Vanilla extract: use almond for an almond-flavored icing instead
- Butter: unsalted sweet cream butter works best
You also need cooking spray, a large bundt pan, and a bowl that's made to pour liquid, like a pyrex measuring cup or mixing bowl with a pour spout.
Step-By-Step Directions
This patriotic cake is made in 3 steps: making and baking the cake, making the glaze, and decorating the cake.
STEP 1: Make the Cake
First, make the cake batter according to the package instructions. Remove 1 cup of batter to a bowl and add blue dye, mixing and adding dye until the color is the shade of blue that you like. Repeat with the red dye.
Spray the entire bundt pan liberally with cooking spray, coating all sides and the center hole. Pour in the blue batter. Add the white batter next, then the red. You can also reverse the order of the colors and pour red in first, then white, and last blue. Just make sure not to add the white batter first. It will turn golden while baked and you'll end up with a red, brown, and blue cake.
Bake for as long as the package indicates. I bake mine for 40 minutes in a large bundt pan, and the cake mix I use states 38-46 minutes. If you have a smaller bundt pan, check it after 30 minutes by inserting a toothpick. A smaller bundt pan could cook much faster than a large one.
Once the cake is done, cool in the bundt pan for 10 minutes. This is important! After 10 minutes, remove from the bundt pan and cool on a serving plate for 30 minutes before glazing.
STEP 2: Make the Glaze
When the cake has cooled, melt the butter until very hot in the microwave. Add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time and stir until combined with the butter. Then add the milk and vanilla extract. Stir until smooth.
STEP 3: Glaze and Decorate
Transfer the glaze to a bowl with a pour spout. Drizzle it back and forth over the cake, spinning the cake slowly as you go. Top with patriotic sprinkles and set in the fridge for 2 minutes. Repeat for a thickly coated cake. Then slice, serve, and enjoy!
Baking Tips
- Grease the bundt pan with spray oil immediately before pouring in the batter. Any earlier and the oil will fall to the bottom of the pan and then you run the risk of the cake sticking to the pan instead of sliding out easily.
- Make sure to grease the inside of the pan's center.
- Be generous with the oil spray. You really can't grease the bundt pan too much. It the cake sticks after cooling, the cake will be ruined.
- Cool the cake in the pan for only 10 minutes before removing. Any longer and it may stick!
- To speed up the cooling process so you can ice it soon after it's done baking, cool in the fridge. Do this once removing it from the pan.
- For a thick glaze icing, double coat it with the glaze. Between coatings, let the icing set in the fridge for a few minutes.
- Add the sprinkles prior to the icing setting. If you do it after, many less sprinkles will stick.
- Cool and glaze the cake on the platter you intend to serve it on. By doing this, the icing will remain completely intact and undisturbed. A bundt cake is fragile when being moved, so the less transferring from one place to another, the better!
Storing
Store the cake in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. You can also store it in the fridge and bring to room temperature prior to serving, if it's especially hot outside and you are afraid the icing will melt.
Enjoy!
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Red White and Blue Cake
Equipment
- bundt pan
- mixing bowls
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 box of white cake mix plus ingredients on box instructions
- 1-2 teaspoon red food coloring
- 1-2 teaspoon blue food coloring
- patriotic sprinkles
Vanilla Glaze
- 8 tablespoon melted butter
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 4-6 tablespoon milk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (or 375°F) as indicated on cake package.
- In a large bowl make the cake mix according to the instructions. Remove 1 cup of batter to a bowl and add blue food coloring, stirring and adding more until it reaches your desired shade of blue. Remove 1 more cup to a separate bowl and repeat the above steps with the red food coloring,
- Grease the bundt pan generously with cooking spray, making sure to coat all sides of the pan, including the center.
- Pour blue batter into the pan, then white batter. Pour in red batter, creating a ring around the center hole.
- Bake for the time indicated on the package. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan. Remove carefully from pan and let cool for 20 minutes.
- Make the glaze. While cake cools, melt the butter until very hot. Add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, stirring until combined. Add 5 tablespoons of milk and the vanilla extract. Stir until smooth, adding more milk if you'd like a thinner glaze.
- Drizzle over the cake and top with sprinkles. Set in the fridge for 2 minutes. Remove and repeat for a double-coated glazed cake.
Notes
Nutrition
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Addie
This cake is so fun and festive! Super fun for July 4!
Oscar
This was delicious! My family loved it. Definitely going to be on rotation in my house.
William Wagner
Doing a BBQ for this Memorial Day and was looking for a great dessert. This looks amazing! Will definitely be adding this to our menu for the day. Thanks!
Alexandra
This cake is delicious and looks fantastic. It is the perfect cake for a festive celebration! We had so much fun decorating it.
Kyleigh
This is so simple and fun! Perfect for the summer holidays!